Flounder-free fish is simply delish with Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood

Nathan Outlaw’s first cookbook British Seafood imparts his extensive knowledge with a light touch.

British Seafood is Nathan Outlaw’s first book

You either like cooking fish or you don’t. Nathan Outlaw does. His self-titled fish restaurant in Cornwall has two Michelin stars and his first book imparts his extensive knowledge with a light touch. There are tricky dishes but he starts each chapter by offering a guide to the specific fish or seafood, dealing deftly with the minefield of sustainability and seasonality that puts many cooks off.

Then it’s on to advice about how each is best cooked, garnished, dressed and accompanied, and gorgeous pictures by David Loftus make the food and the Cornish seascapes look fabulous.

Outlaw is not a dictatorial author and encourages the chopping and changing of ingredients, so I felt free to swap asparagus for the sea spinach accompanying his smoked haddock. However, typical of recipes by chefs who have washer-uppers, the kitchen was a bomb site afterwards.

Outlaw certainly has a gift for clear instructions – the mustard sauce was a doddle and a fabulously buttery match for some pearly flaked Grimsby smoked haddock.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Place each haddock fillet on a sheet of foil large enough to wrap the fish in. Drizzle a little olive oil over the fish and add garlic, thyme and pepper. Bring the extra foil up over the fish and fold the edges together to form a parcel. Lay them on a baking tray and place in the oven to cook for 10min.

Step 2: To make the sauce, put the shallot, cider and vinegar into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Bubble until the liquid reduces almost to nothing, then add the cream. Over a very low heat, whisk in the butter a piece at a time. When it is all incorporated, stir in the mustard, adding salt and pepper as required. Keep warm.

Step 3: When the fish is almost ready, add a drizzle of olive oil to a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Add the sea spinach and cook for 1min until wilted. Open the fish parcels. Pour juices from the parcels into the spinach to season it, toss to mix and then drain. Serve the smoked haddock fillets on warmed plates with the spinach alongside and the sauce in a bowl on the side.

Step 1: Preheat thegrill to its highest setting. In a large bowl, mix breadcrumbs, shallot, garlic, fennel herb, lemon zest and Parmesan together well. Season with salt and pepper and add olive oil to bind mixture. Set aside.

Step 2: Lay the clams on a baking tray, season with salt and drizzle over some oil and Pernod. Place the clams under the grill until they pop open – this will take about 3min. As they open, take them out from the grill and remove the meat from the shell. Strain the clam juice into a pan and bubble over a medium heat to reduce to about 100ml.

Step 3: Remove the dark part of the clams, then roughly chop and combine with the breadcrumb mixture. Spoon back into the shells. Set aside.

Step 4: To finish the sauce, stir the cream into the clam juice and simmer for 2min. Taste for seasoning, then whisk in the butter. Place the clams under the grill for 3-4min until golden. To serve, divide between warmed plates and spoon sauce over each clam.